Teacher fired for 'jerking head of boy, 4, with a life-threatening brain illness and abusing other students with special needs'

A female teacher working with special needs students at a Michigan elementary school has been fired after an internal investigation revealed that she abused several children.

Sharon Turbiak had spent the past 14 years working at Webster Elementary School and is appealing her firing. No criminal charges were filed against her.

The school’s decision to terminate Turbiak has done little to placate parents, who are calling on the district to release the full findings of the investigation into her behaviour.

Broken trust: An internal probe conducted by Webster Elementary School found that special-needs teacher Sharon Turbiak had abused several young students

The teacher is accused of slapping, grabbing, and force-feeding special-needs preschoolers in her classroom, among other unprofessional classroom management practices, the Observer & Eccentric reported.

Lauren Gohl, whose four-year-old son Jayden has a brain abnormality called hydrocephalus, told WXYZthat any injury to the child's head can be life-threatening since he has a device that has been surgically implanted in his brain.

Gohl said she was not told for almost two months about an incident involving her son in which a social worker said she witnessed Turbiak grab the toddler by the top of his head, jerk it back ‘quite aggressively,’ yell at him and continue to jerk his chin upward while pushing the top of his head back because he had tossed a toy.

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On July 16, the school board voted unanimously to fire Turbiak. She has been on paid administrative leave since April, Observer & Eccentricreported.

Although Turbiak has denied claims of abuse and wrongdoing, Gohl and other parents are still calling for the release of the report detailing witness accounts of the alleged incidents.

The results of the internal probe have been sealed after a judge sided with Turbiak, who asked to appeal her termination.

Health risk: Parent Lauren Gohl, right, learned that Turbiak had allegedly jerked the head of her four-year-old son, Jayden, left, who suffers from a severe brain abnormality

Livonia’s school superintendent said the judge has ordered the district to keep the document confidential until the appeal proceedings are complete.

‘What about my rights as a parent? I want and need to know what went on in the classroom,’ Gohl said.

Allegations of abuse first surfaced in October when staff members at Webster Elementary School reported seeing Turbiak mistreating students, among them little Jayden.

In March, came another report accusing Turbiak of acting in an unprofessional manner, but she has denying any wrongdoing.

A short time later, school officials launched an internal probe into the teacher’s behaviour, which had allegedly involved loud yelling, hand slapping and grabbing a student’s face.

Mark Schultz, a former police officer who serves as the district's administrator of employee relations and public safety, reported the allegations to the local police department, which conducted its own investigation.

Police forwarded their case against Turbiak to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, which decided not to arrest the teacher or file abuse charges for lack of evidence.